


Shocking

by celeste9



Category: Primeval
Genre: Awkwardness, Crushes, F/F, First Kiss, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 02:31:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9695744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: Jess chewed on her lip so she wouldn’t sigh. She brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s a lovely bed, as I said. It fits two.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theteacuptempest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theteacuptempest/gifts).



> I was so pleasantly surprised to see someone request this! Hope you enjoy this treat!

“I swear that wasn’t here this morning,” Jess said, twisting her hands anxiously. How embarrassing. Offer a person a place to stay and the ceiling starts leaking.

“I said it’s fine, Jess, honestly,” Emily said, sounding amused and close to laughter. “I’ll sleep on your sofa. I really don’t mind.”

“No!” God, how horrifying. Putting a guest on the _sofa._ And not just any guest, but Lady Emily Merchant. The sofa indeed. “You can have my room, please. Take it. The bed’s lovely.”

Now Emily looked horrified. “No, I could never. I won’t put you out like that.”

“You wouldn’t be putting me out, not at all. I’m the one who said you could stay here and then…” Jess waved her hand vaguely in the air. “Your bed is sopping.”

“You are my host. It would be dreadfully rude.”

“Not any more dreadfully rude than me allowing my guest to sleep on the sofa when I have a perfectly serviceable bed available.”

“I can’t. I really can’t.”

Jess chewed on her lip so she wouldn’t sigh. She brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s a lovely bed, as I said. It fits two.”

Emily blinked. “Two?”

Jess sincerely hoped she wasn’t blushing. “Yes, it certainly does. Ladies shared beds in your time, didn’t they? It will be just like that.”

“Yes, I suppose. You won’t mind?”

Honestly. Could she emote ‘I want you in my bed’ any more than she already had done? “No, I won’t mind.”

“Well,” Emily said. “I suppose that will be fine, then. If you truly don’t mind.”

“I truly don’t. If you like, you can still use the bathroom I showed you. There’s another one attached to my bedroom.”

Nodding, Emily said, “Yes, of course.”

So they parted ways. It was late and it had been a long day, so Jess really did just want to collapse into bed. Thankfully Emily seemed similarly inclined. Jess washed and dressed quickly, then performed a last minute check to ensure her bedroom was clean and there wasn’t anything too embarrassing lying about in plain view. Not that she thought Emily would judge, of course, but there were certain things you didn’t need your beautiful Victorian colleague to see.

A polite knock to her open door made Jess whirl around. She didn’t know quite what she had expected but she was still mildly surprised to see Emily standing in the doorway dressed simply in a plain t-shirt and a pair of soft-looking black pants. 

“You didn’t have to knock,” Jess said.

Emily shrugged. “Seemed more polite than simply barging in.”

“You’re not barging in anywhere, you’re welcome,” Jess said, taking Emily’s arm and guiding her to the bed. “Of course you can go and watch the telly or whatever you want, but here’s the bed, and I’m going to sleep.”

“That will please me as well.”

“All right. Good. Er.” Feeling unaccountably awkward all of a sudden, Jess gestured to her bed. “Do you have a side preference?”

Emily looked at her oddly. “This will be fine, I’m sure.”

“Okay. Then, er, good night.”

Jess hurried over to the opposite side of the bed and climbed in, turning on her side without making eye contact with Emily again. For heaven’s sake. What was wrong with her?

The bedsheets rustled and the mattress dipped slightly as Emily got in on the other side. “Good night, Jess.”

“Sleep well,” Jess said, forcing herself to look back over her shoulder and offer Emily a smile. She switched the light off.

Then she proceeded to not sleep.

All she could think about was Emily lying there next to her, so close but so far. Jess could feel the heat radiating from her back and she imagined she could smell Emily’s sweet, flowery scent though probably she was only imagining that part. Emily was holding herself very still and Jess hoped she was sleeping easier than Jess was.

Jess kept turning over, shifting, trying to make herself comfortable. It didn’t seem to matter; she couldn’t find the right position. She couldn’t stop thinking about Emily. Really Jess could reach over and hold her, could curl around her, could brush her hair back, could kiss her mouth –

But that was a terrible thing to think about. Emily was her friend. She certainly didn’t deserve to be the focus of unwanted fantasies.

Only Jess couldn’t keep the images out of her head. She should never have suggested this.

“Jess, neither of us are ever going to sleep if you keep tossing about like that.”

Freezing, Jess silently berated herself. “Sorry. Perhaps I wasn’t as tired as I thought.”

“Or perhaps,” Emily said, mattress shifting as she sat up, “you were overly generous in giving up half your bed?”

“It isn’t you,” Jess said immediately, holding herself up on an elbow so she could look at Emily. She could just make out the elegant lines of her profile in the darkness of the room. “Only maybe… It’s been a while since I shared a bed?”

Oh, God. Why had she ever started talking?

“For me as well,” and it sounded as though Emily was smiling. “Will you tell me why you are uncomfortable?”

“I’m not uncomfortable.”

“Jess.”

Jess held back a sigh. “It’s nothing.”

“It certainly seems to be something.”

“Nothing you should concern yourself with.”

“Are we not friends?”

“Of course we are!”

“Then shouldn’t you be able to tell me what’s bothering you? Please, Jess.” Emily sounded so concerned, and a little bit like she was hurt that Jess didn’t want to talk to her.

Jess had never wanted that.

“It’s to do with you,” Jess said before clamping her mouth shut in horror. Bloody hell! What had she done?

“With me?” Emily shifted closer. “Well, in that case I think you absolutely need to tell me or else I won’t be able to fix it.”

“There isn’t anything to fix,” Jess said, trying to stall, desperately searching for a way to get herself out of this mess before she said anything more incriminating than she already had. Her stupid big mouth. She always said things she shouldn’t when she was nervous.

“Then what on earth is the matter?”

“I want to kiss you.” Oh, _bugger._ Damn it all. 

Jess tried to curl in on herself, make herself smaller. She wondered if she couldn’t just roll off the bed and underneath it, hiding there and wallowing in her own humiliated misery.

“You want to kiss me?” Emily seemed strangely unoffended.

Actually, she seemed curious.

“I shouldn’t have said that. I’m so sorry, Emily, I’m--”

“But you do want to kiss me?”

“Um. Yes?” Lying was no good and neither was pretending she hadn’t said it. Might as well be truthful. Wasn’t like Jess could be any more embarrassed. 

“If you want to kiss me, then you should kiss me.”

Jess stared. Surely she had heard wrong. Or perhaps she was dreaming? Had she fallen asleep after all? “What?”

Emily’s brown eyes shone in the moonlight. “If you kissed me, I wouldn’t object.”

“You… you wouldn’t?”

Definitely a dream. Had to be.

“Shall I kiss you instead? Would that help?”

“To hell with it,” Jess said, and knelt beside Emily’s hips. Her cheek felt smooth beneath Jess’ palm and her lips were unimaginably soft.

When she pulled back she could feel the warm puff of Emily’s breath on her skin and she felt as though she were surrounded by Emily’s heady, sweet scent.

“There,” Emily said, and Jess could tell she was smiling. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Not now that I’ve done it.” Jess felt her own smile was surely incredibly goofy-looking and she thought she would rather like kissing Emily some more. “You aren’t shocked? I thought you would be terribly shocked.”

“I’ve traveled through time and faced dinosaurs. I’m afraid there is very little left that can shock me.”

Jess laughed and said, “Then I’d quite like to kiss you again, if that’s all right.”

“Quite all right,” Emily agreed, and they didn’t get to sleep for some time.


End file.
